The NFL is making a significant change to the offseason calendar for the 2027 season.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the free agent negotiating window will open on March 9 next year. That is the same date that the two-day window opened this year, but the change comes in how close it will be to the end of the Scouting Combine.
NFL teams will wrap up their examinations and interrogations of incoming prospects on March 8 in 2027, which moves the league away from having a week or so between the two events as they have in past years.
Under that setup, the Combine has always been rife with table-setting for free agency as agents and team executives are all in the same place with their minds on the same things. With that gap eliminated, there will likely be even more of that work being done in Indianapolis so that teams are ready to make moves right from the starting gun.
Titans Clips
The Titans cut a player from their injured reserve list on Monday.
The NFL’s daily transaction report shows that they waived defensive lineman C.J. Ravenell off of the list. Ravenell was waived off of the active roster last month and landed on injured reserve after going unclaimed.
Assuming that happens again, Ravenell will be eligible to sign with another team ahead of training camp.
Ravenell appeared in 14 games for the Titans last season and he made one start. He had six tackles and a forced fumble in that action. He also spent time with the Ravens in 2024 without appearing in any regular season games.
At a time when it’s not clear whether receiver Brandon Aiyuk is getting any advice — or whether he’s listening to the advice he’s getting — a former NFL G.M. who knows Aiyuk plans to connect with him.
Appearing Monday on SiriusXM NFL Radio, former Titans G.M. Ran Carthon, who worked for the 49ers during Aiyuk’s first three years in San Francisco, addressed Aiyuk’s recent social-media video habit, including Saturday’s decision to cross swords with Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels.
“There’s something there, and I’m being as transparent as transparent can be,” Carthon said. “B.A. and I, we have a relationship. I was there when we drafted him, and through time spent in the same building, we have a relationship. I honestly have been going back and forth in my head over the last week or so and I really want to reach out to him on a personal level and see if he’s willing to have the conversation, because I think there’s something there that hasn’t quite been unlocked. I don’t know if ‘unlocked’ is the right word. But I do agree with you, this isn’t the Brandon Aiyuk I know. Now, I know him to be stubborn, so I know that part about him.
“But this recent behavior, I’m not as familiar with. And the other part of it, to be quite honest, in this day and age with these guys, it could just be him trolling with the most recent video, knowing that he will get a reaction. And maybe even trying to figure out — these guys are fairly smart — so maybe he’s like, ‘OK, maybe if I create enough buzz in saying whatever he said to Jayden [Daniels] online, then the 49ers won’t think I’m just trying to get to Washington.
“Maybe that’s a game being played right now. But in full transparency, it’s something, probably when we get off the air, I may just shoot a text and say, ‘Hey man, let’s connect.’ I just want to see where his head is and offer him any advice that I can, or be a sounding board.”
Someone needs to tell Aiyuk that it would be a good idea to stop the videos, and to petition the NFL for reinstatement from the 49ers’ reserve/left squad list. That’s the first tangible step toward securing the free agency Aiyuk wants.
Former NFL safety Myron Rolle went to medical school after he completed his playing career and the pediatric neurosurgeon is now coming back to work with the NFL Players Association.
The NFLPA announced that Rolle will be joining the union as a strategic advisor. Rolle’s work will focus on player health, brain cognition, and preventative care for active players.
“This sport gave my family joy, discipline, and community,” Rolle said in a statement. “To return now, as a physician, researcher and former player, and contribute to the wellbeing of the men who make this game what it is, feels deeply meaningful. I am honored to support the NFLPA’s mission and help advance a future where every player’s health is protected with the highest standard of care.”
Rolle was named a Rhodes Scholar while playing at Florida State and the Titans drafted him in the sixth round in 2010. He also spent time with the Steelers, but did not play in any regular season games before going back to Florida State for medical school in 2013.
Titans defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons played his first five NFL seasons with Mike Vrabel as his head coach, and never reached the Super Bowl. That gave him mixed emotions when he saw Vrabel get to the Super Bowl last year with the Patriots.
Simmons said on Terron Armstead’s podcast that he still has a great relationship with Vrabel and was happy for his success in Year One in New England, but also disappointed Vrabel couldn’t help Simmons reach the Super Bowl in Tennessee.
“Was I surprised?” Simmons said. “I think we all would be surprised if this guy, first year in New England, they go straight to the Super Bowl. First off, I’m jealous as hell. Like what? I was just with you four years, and you couldn’t get me to the Super Bowl? But I could call Vrabel right now and he’d answer the phone. You build that relationship off the football field, and I think that’s the thing with Vrabel. It’s the same with Saleh, when you can build that relationship with players off the football field, and not just on the football field, they’re going to play as hard as they can for you.”
Simmons said that as he watched Vrabel and many of the assistant coaches who were with him in Tennessee get to the Super Bowl in their first year in New England, it gave him high hopes for what the Titans can do this year with new head coach Robert Saleh.
“I was surprised. He took the whole Tennessee Titans staff with him,” Simmons said. “Coach Robert Saleh, first year? Why not?”
The Titans taking that kind of leap forward in Year One with Saleh would likely require the same second-year turnaround from Cam Ward that Drake Maye had last season. Simmons said he sees the hard work Ward is putting in, and is a believer that the Titans have the right people in place to make a big turnaround in 2026.
The Fourth of July is one of the slowest NFL news days of the year. Every year, I remember the shocking news that emerged in the early afternoon of July 4, 2009.
Former Titans and Ravens quarterback Steve McNair had been murdered.
The details were confusing. It was quickly ruled a murder-suicide; McNair was shot by his 20-year-old girlfriend, who then shot herself. The woman, Sahel Kazemi, had reportedly never owned a gun. But McNair was execution-style, with two shots to the chest and two to the head.
Questions lingered regarding whether someone else was involved, but the case was never re-opened. In 2018, SI.com released a podcast series on the McNair murder.
The third overall pick in the 1995 draft, McNair led the Titans to Super Bowl XXXIV, nearly throwing a late touchdown pass that would have set the stage for overtime (or the ultimate all-or-nothing two-point conversion) against the Rams. McNair shared the NFL MVP award with Peyton Manning in 2003, and he finished his career with two seasons in Baltimore.
McNair is a member of the Titans’ Ring of Honor. The team has retired number 9 in his honor.
McNair was only 36 when he died, 17 years ago today.
Austin Schlottmann followed Brian Daboll and Carmen Bricillo to the Titans, signing a three-year, $7 million deal in the offseason. Daboll will serve as the Titans’ offensive coordinator and Bricillo as the offensive line coach.
Schlottmann, who spent two years with them in New York, hopes to be their starting center, but he is taking nothing for granted.
“My whole career has been that, basically,” Schlottmann said, via Jim Wyatt of the team website. "[I] went to Denver in 2018 as an undrafted free agent with a super longshot of making it, stuck around on the practice squad, and then the next year you compete for a spot on the roster. And every year after that they are bringing guys in to replace you, and you have to compete and try and make the team.
“So, I think throughout my career, I have learned how to do that. So, I think the best way to do it is just focus on yourself. Just try and get better every day and work. Be the best version of you every day.”
The Titans head into training camp with competition for the center job and the right guard spot.
Schlottmann has appeared in 85 games, with 18 starts, in seven NFL seasons. It’s more than rookie sixth-round pick Pat Coogan but less than veteran Andre James, who has played 106 games with 61 starts.
“The room has been awesome,” Schlottmann said. “We’ve had a good time, and we’ve kind of jelled together quickly. We are pretty tight. We hang out inside the building, outside the building, and I think the group is eager to improve and eager to be a great unit. I think everyone collectively has that same feeling.”
On Wednesday, a jury convicted former Titans scout Blaise Taylor of murdering his pregnant girlfriend and her unborn child. Taylor plans to appeal the verdict.
“While we respect the jury system and the process, we must also respectfully disagree with today’s verdict and plan to appeal the decision because Blaise did not do this,” attorney Letitia Quinones-Hollins said in a statement. “He maintains that he is innocent and we will continue working to prove that. We understand and respect the pain that Ms. Benning’s family and friends feel over her tragic death and the death of her unborn baby, but putting an innocent man behind bars is also a tragedy.”
Taylor has every right to appeal the guilty verdict. With a very lengthy sentence looming, there’s no reason not to try.
He’s also entitled to continue to proclaim his innocence. Indeed, most individuals who have been sent to prison will continue to say, to anyone who will listen, “I didn’t do it.”
The question is whether the process included what the law calls reversible error. An appeals court will need to find that a significant mistake was made, or that significant misconduct occurred, to justify a new trial.
The appeal process typically takes months to resolve. Until then, Taylor undoubtedly will remain in custody.
Former NFL running back Chris Johnson went public on Monday with his battle against ALS. He’s now hoping to raise as much money as possible for ALS research.
He’s bringing back the Ice Bucket Challenge, and he’s getting it started by designating three former NFL players to get a bucket of ice water dumped on them: Marshawn Lynch, Pacman Jones, and LenDale White.
You can do that, or you can make a contribution to ALS research. Or both.
Here’s the link to donate in honor of Chris Johnson to the research efforts at Massachusetts General Hospital.
We highly encourage giving whatever you can. Times are tough, but every dollar counts. Who knows which dollar will be the dollar the funds the cure?
There’s a selfish motivation to this particular act of altruism. Any of us could get ALS, at any time. It’s a horrible disease, which robs the body of its abilities without robbing the mind of its faculties.
It can be cured. It should be cured. With enough research, maybe it will be cured.
So click the link and give a little. (Or a lot.) Already, more than $24,000 has been raised in Johnson’s name.
Former Titans scout Blaise Taylor has been convicted of killing Jade Benning and her unborn child.
Via WKRN, a jury convicted Taylor of murder on Wednesday.
Prosecutors claimed that Taylor poisoned Benning’s pink lemonade by lacing it with lethal amounts of cocaine. She was rushed to a hospital on February 25, 2023. The five-month-old fetus died two days later. Benning died on March 6, 2023 — her 25th birthday.
Specifically, Taylor was found guilty on all four counts: second-degree murder of Benning, first-degree murder of the unborn child, first-degree felony murder of Benning, and first-degree felony murder of the unborn child.
He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Taylor worked for the Titans from 2021 through 2023.
